The present invention is directed to self-erecting enclosures such as exemplified in the two Norman patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,960,161 and 3,990,463 and also as exemplified in McLeese patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,634 and Ivanovich, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,461 and specifically FIG. 2 of the subject Ivanovich patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,461.
In the self-erecting shelters as identified above, one or more resilient wire-like or monofilament structural members are employed in which the remote ends are looped through the interior structure of the enclosure and then joined by a connector. The one specifically shown in FIG. 2 of the Ivanovich patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,461 is a sleeve of relatively constant interior diameter and exterior diameter which is swedged permanently to one end of the wire or monofilament, and permits the other end to penetrate beyond a mid-portion of one-half of the interior and allegedly to swivel. With the McLeese patent U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,634 there is no showing of such a connector, but one is necessarily employed.
With the connector structures of the prior art which invariably are swedged to one end of the wire or monofilament and permit the other to find their own location interiorly, there is always the risk that the free end will engage the swedged end and become locked to each other which inhibits the free swiveling motion which is necessary. Moreover, with swedging the connector may loosen and slide off the end of the wire loop. Finally, swedging can only be done with a metal wire.
Indeed, for the efficient assembly of such an enclosure structure it is important that both ends of the wire or monofilament be capable of rotating or swiveling each independent of the other. In the course of opening and closing the enclosure, the movement of the monofilament or wire ends can be any motion of one end without the motion of the other. The reverse is true where the opposite end rotates and the remaining end holds steady. However, most commonly, during portions of the erecting and closing steps, both ends swivel independently in the connector, which is the most desirable.
Thus it is highly desirable to develop a connector structure which will nestingly receive the ends of the monofilament or wire for a self-erecting enclosure in such a manner that each can swivel independent of the other, and the connector can migrate to various positions interiorly of the enclosure without losing its nesting relationship to both ends of the wire or monofilament.